Vivien Schweitzer reviews the well-matched pair of violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Jeremy Denk in yesterday’s New York Times:

Before a superb performance of Ysaÿe’s Sonata No. 2 in A minor at Avery Fisher Hall on Sunday afternoon, the violinist Joshua Bell spoke from the stage about [Eugène] Ysaÿe, whom he called “one of the greatest violinists” ever. Ysaÿe taught Josef Gingold, Mr. Bell’s former teacher.

Mr. Bell played the colorful opening movement (titled “Obsession”) with vigorous poise and the “Dies Irae” theme in the somber “Malinconia” with haunting intensity. His voluminous tone and powerful technique vividly illuminated the intricacies of the virtuoso finale.

The sonata was included in a stellar recital (part of the Great Performers series) that Mr. Bell played with the excellent pianist Jeremy Denk. The program also included Franck’s Violin Sonata in A, which the composer wrote as a wedding gift for Ysaÿe, who gave the work its premiere.

These two musicians are an ideally matched duo, with Mr. Denk’s fiery playing complementing Mr. Bell’s luxuriant singing tone. Mr. Denk played the enigmatic opening to the first movement of the Franck with gentle insistence. The dialogue in the charming final movement traversed varying degrees of jovial familiarity and passionate exuberance with gripping intensity.

Bell performs at the Y on March 10 for the Mendelssohn night of the In Focus: Steven Isserlis & the Romantic Generation Series. Denk, no stranger to Y audiences, is the piano man for Isserlis’s Family Music Series and returns on March 1 for Musical Dreamer: The Life and Music of Schumann.